Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on August 18, 2015, the appointment of Ashley Z. Hand as the transportation technology strategist fellow at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). The fellowship is funded through a grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation.
“It takes ingenuity and technical savvy to plan the safe, dynamic and widely accessible transportation future that Los Angeles deserves,” said Mayor Garcetti. “Ashley has shown these qualities throughout her career, using uncommon creativity to help local governments build comprehensive networks. L.A. is defining the curve for transportation in the digital age — and Ashley will help steer us away from being the world’s car capital, and build on our Mobility and Sustainable City plans. Taken together, these initiatives have us on course for the smart and sustainable future that Angelenos deserve.”
Most recently, Hand served as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) in Kansas City, Missouri — the first woman in the nation’s history to serve as a municipal CIO. In that post, she developed Kansas City’s first-ever digital roadmap; established a public-private partnership to build a smart city network along a new streetcar starter line; and utilized data to deliver city services more efficiently. She previously served as an architectural designer and planner for the global firm AECOM, where she worked collaboratively across the public and private sectors to encourage clients to use sustainable best practices.
